Catting

Catting is the operation of drawing a ship's anchor perpendicularly up to the cat-head, or, where there is no cat-head, of placing the anchor at rest in its berth on board. In large ships catting is now usually performed with the assistance of a strong davit, to which suitable tackle is affixed. The cat-heads are two stout and short beams of timber projecting nearly horizontally from a ship's bow, one on each side.